Stabilizers for journal boxes



Sept. 30, 1958 A. M EWEN 5 9 STABILIZERS FOR JOURNAL BOXES Filed March27, 1956 IN VEN TOR United States STABILIZERS FOR JOURNAL BOXESApplication March 27, 1956, Serial No. 574,212

3 Claims. (Cl. 30838) This invention relates generally, to railroad carjournal boxes, and in particular, to improvements instabilizers forjournal boxes, the function of which is to limit the relativetranslatory movement between the journal and journal box when the carstarts or stops, or which occurs for example, when the train is used tohump a freight car to give it starting momentum, in switching.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a stabilizercomprising right and left stops constituting a pair, separatelyinsertable into the dust guard channel of the conventional journal box,and integrally united to one another and to the journal box.

Another object of the invention is to provide a stabilizer consisting ofright and left stops, as described, having relatively wide impactportions adapted to be positioned at opposite sides of the dust guardseat of the journal, projecting into the aperture which the dust guardchannel surrounds so as to narrow the horizontal diameter of saidaperture, and having integral arcuate portions shaped to followsubstantially the curvature of the lower part of the dust guard channel,adapted to be received therein, said stops being adapted to beintegrally welded to the journal box so as to become a part thereof.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following descriptionof a practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of the followingspecification, and throughout the figures of which the same referencecharacters have been used to denote identical parts:

Figure l is a perspective view of a conventional journal box embodyingthe principles of the invention;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section through the journal box of Figure 1,showing that part of the journal or axle which is within the journalbox;

Figure 3 is a cross-section taken along the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a cross-section taken along the line 4--4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the stabilizer of the presentinvention, consisting of the pair of right and left stops weldedtogether.

Referring now to the drawing, the numeral 1 repre sents a journal box ofconventional type having at the rear an end wall 2 formed with anaperture 3 (see Figure 3), which is of larger diameter than the dustguard seat 4 of the axle and generally oval along a vertical axis, asshown, to provide room for jacking up the car body for placing thebearing 5 upon the journal 15 and the wedge 6 which overlies thebearing, all of which parts are well known to one working in the art.

The journal box is provided with an interior flange 7 in a planeparallel to said end wall and adjacent thereto, defining with said endwall a dust guard channel 8. The top of the journal box has a slot 9overlying the dust guard channel and giving access thereto. The dustguard 10 may be of wood. It is slidable through the slot 9 item 02,854,295 Patented Sept. 39, 1%53 ice and seats within the upper partsof the channel 8 on opposite sides of the journal. It has an arcuaterecess 11 in its under side, which closely fits about the upper arc ofthe dust guard seat 4. The car wheel not shown, is fixed to the axleadjacent the dust guard seat and the purpose of the dust guard is toseal the journal box against entrance of dust, etc., thrown up by thewheel or carried by the draft beneath the car. 1

The lateral walls of that part of the journal box which extendsoutwardly from the dust guard channel is formed with one or more pairsof corresponding lugs 12 and 13. The number of pairs depends upon thetype of bearing employed. In the illustrated example the hearing hasonly one complementary pair of lugs 14, which engage one pair of thelugs 12 and 13, the purpose being to position the bearing with respectto movement toward the dust guard seat. Its movement in the oppositedirection is limited by the forged head 16 at the outer end of the axle.

The end portions of the babbitt 17 which lines the bearing follow acurvature which is slightly greater than that of the journal 15 so thata wedge shaped pocket 18 is formed between the journal and the babbittat each side of the bearing. Whichever pocket is at the leading end,relative to the direction of rotation of the journal, scoops the film ofoil from the surface of the journal and directs it into the interfacialjoint between the bearing and journal.

Thus far the specification has described the conventional journal box inwhich the bearing may be said to float upon the journal, since it freelyrests upon the journal, being held in place solely by the weight of thecar body including the truck, a fragmentary part of which is shown at 18in Figure 1. When there is a difference in the inertia between the axleand the journal box, as when the train starts or stops, or when it isused to move impactively against the free car to give it momentum tocoast onto a side track (known in railroading as humping), there istranslatory movement of the axle including the journal, relative to thejournal box, so that the bearing 5 is hammered into the lugs 12 and 13at one side or the other according to the direction of impact. Repeatedhammering distorts the bearing, reducing the curvature of the bearingsurface adjacent the sides so that eventually the side edges of thebabbitt come into contact with the surface of the journal, cans ingwhichever of the edges is at the leading side to scrape the oil off ofthe surface of the journal and prevent it reaching the load bearinginterface. The bearing, therefore, runs dry, heat is generated, and thebabbitt may melt and run out.

Not only does the bearing hammer destructively against the lugs 12 and13 under the conditions specified, but when the inertia of the bearingis stopped by its contact with the lugs, there is still an inertiadifferential between the bearing and the overlying wedge so that thelatter cams up on the inclined upper face 19 of the bearing, forcing thejournal box up toward the axle, thereby compressing the waste which isbeneath the axle in the journal box, creating a frictional pressure thatmay, under rotation of the axle, displace the waste so that it is forcedupward against the bearing which is hot from insufiicient lubrication,and ignites the waste, causing a hot box.

The expense of re-shaping, re-babbitting or replacing bearings, as wellas the risk and damage incident to a hot box has long plagued therailroad industry in the use of the conventional journal box, and muchingenuity has been exercised in the attempt to minimize the shortcomingsof the conventional arrangement. I

In general, efforts to improve the journal box have been directed to thelateral narrowing of the aperture in I the rear wall of the journal boxso as to reduce and limit the range of translator-y relative movement ofthe axle to the extent to which the bearing will not make lateralcontact with the interior'side'lugs'- of the journal box, or with anyother part of the journal box. To this endit has been proposed to insertmetal stops in the dust guard itself'at opposite sides of the dust guardseat errrbracing' recess;

' positioned to intersect the horizontal diameter of'the dust guardseat, but such" proposals underestimate the' impact force to which thedust guard would be subjected, and potential breakage of the dust guardmakes this expedient impractical. Another idea is to position a pair ofstops loosely, that is to say, unattached in the dustguard channel withimpact receiving heads in limiting position with respect to translatory'movement of the axle. vices are readily displaced under stress and havenot proved a satisfactory solution to the problem.

According to the present invention, a pair of stops 20 and 21 isprovided, each stop comprising a stout rib 22,

said ribs together conforming to the shape of the dustguard channel,each rib extending from the middle point in the bottom are of saidchannel and continuing upwardtoapoint beyond the horizontal diametricalplane of the dust guard seat.

The upper points of the ribs 22 are expanded laterally These deaxle isformed with a journal and a dust. guard seat adjacent said journal, andsaid journal box having ar'ear end Wall with an aperture larger than thediameter of said dust guard seat, through which said axle extends, andhaving'a'n interior flange adjacentsaid end wall in a plane parallelthereto defining therewitha dust guard channel in the zone of said dustguard seat, said stabilizer comprising a pair of stops adapted to beinserted in said channel, having curvilinear ribs conformingsubstantially to.

the curvature of said channel, said ribs being adapted'to be broughttogether at theirlower ends within said chanto form heads 23 whichoverlie at least in part the edges 7 ofthe dust guard channel 8. Thestops and 21 are insertedseparately in the dust guard channel, sincethis is theonly way that they can be got in, after which the ribs22 arewelded together at their abutting ends, as indi-- cated by the numeral24, and said ribs are'then Welded toboth of the side wallsof saidchannel, the line of weld preferably being continuous throughout thelength of the ribs and preferably on both sides, so that the stopsbecomea firmly bonded integral part of the-journal box structure. 7

Preferably, thedepth dimension of the'ribs 22 is suchthat when they. arewelded in place, the bight of the-correlated .ribs extends. above thecorresponding bounding edge ofithe aperture 3, so as to form a damhigher than the. lower edge of said aperture, making it possible to.maintain the oil level inthe bottom of the journal box higher than itwould beinlthe absence of the present im provement.

The. heads 23 do notnecessarily lie against the underlyingedges of theside walls of the dust guardijournal,v

but may be offset toward the dust guard seat asuflficient distance toprovide the ,desired minimumlateral clearance between said'dust, guardseatand said heads.

train of cars progressively. V

' The stabilizers of the presentinvention may be built into journalboxes at the time of their manufacture but' they are particularlyapplicable for use in the modification 'of journal boxes now in being.

Aceitain. amount of lateral clearance is recognized asbeing'essens tialin permitting lost, motion between the trucks. and axles, enabling thelocomotive to pickup the load of the nel beneath said dust guard seat,and welded unitarily,

in'situ', and adapted to be welded'to'said journal box, sa'id' stopshaving heads at their upper ends positioned so as to overlie the sidesof said channel and to lie in the pathofihorizontal translatory movementof said dust guard seatto be engaged thereby, when said Stops are inposition in said journal box. I

2. In combination, an axleformed with a journal and a dust guard seatadjacent said journal, and a journal box having a rear end wall with anaperture therein larger than the diameter of said dust guard seat,through which said axle extends, said journal box having an interior"flange spaced from said end wall and lying in a plane.

parallel thereto definingtherewith a dust guard channel in-the zone ofsaid' dust guard seat, a stabilizer comprising a pair of stops adaptedto be inserted'scparately into said channel atopposite sides of saiddust guard seat having curvilinear rib portions conforming substantiallyto the curvature of said channel, said ribs being in mutualfengagementat their lower ends and being welded together at said ends and to saidjournal box, ,saidistops' having heads at their upper endspositioned soas to overliethe sides'of saidchannel and to lie in the path ofhorizontal translatory movement" of said dust guard seat, when saidstops are in fixed position in said journal box.

3. Stabilizer for limiting horizontal translatory movement of an axle ina journal box,'as claimed in claim 2, the depth dimension of said ribsbeing such that,. their concavefaces extend'beyond .the sides of saidchannel,

said ribs being welded at least tonne of the side walls of saidchannelcontinuously throughoutthe length of said ribs, the latterforming a dam to increase the height of the oil, reservoir constitutedby the lower portionof said journal box.

References Cited in the file" of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,445,597 Bissell July 20, 1948 r 2,637,604 Potter May 5, 1953 2,657,102a Johnson Oct. 27. 1953'

